General quotes

I now firmly believe that consciousness is more than an accidental by-product of the neurophysiological and biochemical processes taking place in the human brain. I see consciousness and the human psyche as expressions and reflections of a cosmic intelligence that permeates the entire universe and all of its existence. We are not just highly evolved animals with biological computers embedded inside our skulls; we are also fields of consciousness without limits, transcending time, space, matter, and linear causality. Stanislav Grof, M.D., Ph.D. (*1931) Czech US American psychiatrist, consciousness researcher, co-developer of transpersonal psychology, teacher, author, The Holotropic Mind. The Three Levels of Human Consciousness and How They Shape Our Lives, S. 17-18, HarperOne, reprint edition 28. May 1993

Recommendations

If you get into these spaces [non-ordinary states of consciousness] at all, you must forget about them when you come back. You must forget you're omnipotent and omniscient and take the game seriously so you'll engage in sex, have children, and participate in the whole human scenario. When you come back from a deep tank session – or a coma or psychosis – there's always this extraterrestrial feeling. You have to read the directions in the glove compartment so you can run the human vehicle once more. John C. Lilly (1915-2001) US American physician, neuroscientist, psychoanalyst, psychonaut, philosopher, writer, ⚡ E. J. Gold (*1941) US American artist, jazz musician, spiritual teacher in the "Fourth Way" tradition of G.I. Gurdjieff, author, Tanks for the Memories. Floatation Tank Talks, Gateways, Nevada City, California, 1995

The recently developing Era III [in medicine] goes even further by proposing that consciousness is not confined to one's individual body. Nonlocal mind – mind that is boundless and unlimited – is the hallmark of Era III. An individual's mind may affect not just his or her body, but the body of another person at a distance, even when that distant individual is unaware of the effort. [...] Era III as illustrating the transpersonal effects of the mind.[...] The evidence supporting Era III implies that there are no boundaries to consciousness, that it is infinite in space and time. If our minds are unbounded, then they must unite or come together at some level. This means that in some sense we are literally one. The implications of this unity are profound. If our minds are connected, then we can, and do, share any and all experiences. All the joys and sorrows of life can be mutual affairs. This means we are never alone, which relieves the twin burdens of loneliness and isolation, two major factors in illness.The biggest payoff of Era III concerns our destiny. If our mind is nonlocal and boundless, then it is infinite in time. Therefore, the death of the body does not mean that consciousness ceases to exist; something about us endures. Era III, therefore, carries with it the promise of immortality, which is a cure for the "disease" that has caused more suffering for humans than any other: the fear of death. Larry Dossey, M.D. (*1940) US American internist, pioneer of spiritualizing healthcare, public speaker, author on complementary medicine, cited in: website A Conversation About the Future of Medicine, undated

At the highest level of satori from which people return, the point of consciousness becomes a surface or a solid which extends throughout the whole known universe. This used to be called fusion with the Universal Mind or God. In more modern terms you have done a mathematical transformation in which your center of consciousness has ceased to be a travelling point and has become a surface or solid of consciousness. [...] It was in this state that I experienced "myself" as melded and intertwined with hundreds of billions of other beings in a thin sheet of consciousness that was distributed around the galaxy. A "membrane". John C. Lilly (1915-2001) US American physician, neuroscientist, psychoanalyst, psychonaut, philosopher, writer, ⚡ E. J. Gold (*1941) US American artist, jazz musician, spiritual teacher in the "Fourth Way" tradition of G.I. Gurdjieff, author, Tanks for the Memories. Floatation Tank Talks, Gateways, Nevada City, California, 1995

Mental disorder, behavioral disorder of all kinds, signal the fact that two obviously incompatible energies have merged into the same field. Dr. Malidoma Patrice Somé (*1956) West African Burkina Faso born, American based psychologist, medicine man, author, cited in: Article What a Shaman Sees in A Mental Hospital, presented by the US American online magazine Waking Times, Stephanie Marohn, 22. August 2014, reprinted by The Mind Unleashed, 25. August 2014

The other world's relationship with our world is one of sponsorship. More often than not, the knowledge and skills that arise from this kind of merger are a knowledge or a skill that is provided directly from the other world. Dr. Malidoma Patrice Somé (*1956) West African Burkina Faso born, American based psychologist, medicine man, author, cited in: Article What a Shaman Sees in A Mental Hospital, presented by the US American online magazine Waking Times, Stephanie Marohn, 22. August 2014, reprinted by The Mind Unleashed, 25. August 2014

Spirits [ancestors] are drawn to sensitive people whose senses have not been anesthetized.

The Western culture has consistently ignored the birth of the healer. Consequently, there will be a tendency from the other world to keep trying as many people as possible in an attempt to get somebody’s attention. They have to try harder. The sensitivity is pretty much read as an invitation to come in. Dr. Malidoma Patrice Somé (*1956) West African Burkina Faso born, American based psychologist, medicine man, author, cited in: Article What a Shaman Sees in A Mental Hospital, presented by the US American online magazine Waking Times, Stephanie Marohn, 22. August 2014, reprinted by The Mind Unleashed, 25. August 2014

Observations by Stanislav Grof

Not everything that is not rational is irrational. There are areas where we can talk about transrational things. The mystics are not irrational, they are transrational. They can perfectly function rationally, but in addition they made certain corrections in their world view based on the experiences of other realms that are not available in the ordinary state of consciousness. So they have what other people have, but something is added. Video interview with Stanislav Grof, M.D., Ph.D. (*1931) Czech US American psychiatrist, consciousness researcher, co-developer of transpersonal psychology, teacher, author, 2012 Time for Change: Stan Grof – Reality Sandwich, excerpted from the "2012 Time for Change" series directed by Joao Amorim, host Daniel Pinchbeck, journalist, YouTube film, minute 16:47, 30:16 minutes duration, posted 22. June 2011

Individuals who relive their birth in psychedelic sessions or some non-drug experiential work repeatedly report that they have discovered a deep connection between the pattern and circumstances of their delivery and the overall quality of their life. It seems as if the experience of birth determines one’s basic feelings about existence, the image of the world, attitudes towards other people, the ration of optimism to pessimism, the entire strategy of life, and even specific elements such as self-confidence and the capacity to handle problems and projects.Stanislav Grof, M.D., Ph.D.erowid.org (*1931) Czech US American psychiatrist, consciousness researcher, co-developer of transpersonal psychology, teacher, author, Beyond the Brain. Birth, Death, and Transendence in Psychotherapy, S. 25, State University of New York Press, 1. August 1985

The psychological death-rebirth process and its symbolic language can be applied to our condition. Even a cursory look at the world situation reveals that we have exteriorised in our present life all the essential aspects of BPM III that an individual involved in a transformative and evolutionary process must face internally. The third perinatal matrix has a number of important facets –

An individual undergoing the death-rebirth process would confront such themes internally as mandatory stages of the process of inner transformation. He or she would have to experience them and integrate them to reach "higher sanity" and a new level of consciousness. […] The critical turning point in the process of inner transformation is ego death and the conceptual destruction of the individual's old world. Stanislav Grof, M.D., Ph.D.erowid.org (*1931) Czech US American psychiatrist, consciousness researcher, co-developer of transpersonal psychology, teacher, author, Beyond the Brain. Birth, Death, and Transendence in Psychotherapy, S. 427-428, State University of New York Press, 1. August 1985

This matrix is related to the original condition of the intrauterine existence during which the child and his mother form a symbiotic unity. Unless some noxious stimuli interfere, the conditions for the child are optimal, involving security, protection appropriate milieu and satisfaction of all needs. This symbiotic unity can have both a disturbed and an undisturbed nature.

BPM II

Saturn/CronosCosmic engulfment and no exit

Antagonism with mother

Contractions in a closed uterine system

This matrix is related to the first clinical stage of the delivery. This episode belongs perhaps to the worst experiences a human being can have. The fetuses both mechanically and chemically alienated from the mother with no possibility of immediate escape which may be later manifested as feelings of being trapped, of being hopelessly caught and overwhelmed.

BPM III

PlutoDeath-rebirth struggle

Synergism with mother

Propulsion through the birth canal

This matrix is related to the second clinical stage of delivery. The uterine contractions continue, but the cervix stands wide open and the gradual and difficult propulsion through the birth canal begins. There is an enormous struggle for survival, mechanical crushing pressures and high degree of suffocation. The system is not closed any more, however, and a perspective of termination of the unbearable situation has appeared.

BPM IV

UranusDeath-rebirth experience

Separation from mother

Termination of the symbiotic union and formation of a new type of relationship

This matrix is related to the third clinical stage of delivery. In this phase the agonizing experiences of several hours culminates, the propulsion through the birth canal is completed and the ultimate intensification of tension and suffering is followed by a sudden relief and relaxation.

COEX

Systems of Condensed Experience

A COEX system is a specific memory constellation comprising in a condensed form experiences (and/or fantasies) from different life periods of the individual. Memories belonging to a particular COEX system have a similar basic theme or contain similar elements and are accompanied by a strong emotional charge of the same quality. It should be understood that the COEX systems are generally sub-ordinated to the BPMs, but they show a great degree of relative functional independence.

[W]henever groups believe themselves to be under some extreme stress […], they tend to regress. This regression is a "coping mechanism" to handle the psyche's need to defend itself from discomfort. This regression is usually to pre-verbal, pre-oedipal or fetal stages – there are countless images of

➤ being trapped (in the womb),

➤ of leaders as pregnant women,

➤ of breaking through (like the rupturing of the amniotic sac prior to birth),

➤ of choking and strangling (reflecting the sensation of the overcrowded womb as well as

➤ the reality of the danger in birth in possible choking to death by one's umbilical cord)

➤ and many other images of a fetal or early childhood nature.

[…] [T]he individuals in the group restage their childhood traumas, develop group illusions identifying their shared existence, select their leader according to their needs and seek punishment. They give the leader the right to act out the group fantasies so that the members can peacefully deny any ownership of these actions.Periodically, […] we enter a panic state, and our early fears and other emotional memories are restaged in wars or other forms of social violence. Jerrold Atlas, Ph.D., US American vice president of the International University of Altdorf, retired senior professor of history, psychohistorian, A Suicidal Embrace: War As Self-punishment and Suicide, presented by The Journal of Psychohistory, 2005

Uncoupling the fear from immobility – contains a lot of activation arousal so need to help contain the sensation of arousal to help the client move back into balance, back into social engagement (seeking a state of equilibrium)

7.

Helping to discharge and regulate the high arousal states

8.

Engaging in self-regulation to restore dynamic equilibrium and relaxed alertness

Video presentation by Stanislav Grof, M.D., Ph.D. (*1931) Czech US American psychiatrist, consciousness researcher, co-developer of transpersonal psychology, Grand Rounds Lessons from Modern Consciousness Research, Psychology of the Future, location University of Arizona, 26. October 2001, lecture by Stanislav Grof on the "Psychology of the Future", 2009, Psychology of the Future, YouTube film, 1:04:26 duration, posted 22. June 2011

Indian Hindu guru Neem Karoli to Ram Dass [Richard Alpert]: "LSD is a form of avatar that is neccessary for the Western world because you are so much involved in material things so it had to come for you in the form of the material."Minute 1:15

Stan Grof: "Without the psychedelic experience I would have never taken spiritualty seriously. [...] I needed something really that radical."Minute 3:14